Page 24 of Pit Stop

Eighteen

Odette

My body aches and burns as I stir awake. The sheets catch on my body. I groan and my head pounds so hard I think my skull is going to shatter. Peeking an eyelid open I see moonlight coming in through some missing blind slats. This isn’t where I live, I think to myself as I sit up. The sudden movement only makes my head pound more. I bite the inside of my cheeks slightly in an attempt to forget about the head pain. It does no good. As I sit in the foreign bed, last night comes rushing back.

Lyles angry eyes.

His sick, sadistic smirk.

The broken glass.

Burning pain as the shards bite into my skin.

Numbness when I grabbed the largest shard I could and drove it into the side of his body.

A sharp intake of breath causes someone else to stir in the room. “You’re awake,” the quiet voice says. I nod my head as Onyx comes into view. Her hair is mostly tamed in a messy bun. I remember her and two teenage boys coming to my rescue last night before the world went black. Slowly, she sits on the side of the bed. “I’ve been worried sick.” She reaches forward and moves a stray strand of hair from my face. She’s careful not to brush against the bruise I know is there.

“What happened?” I ask. My voice is hoarse and my bottom lip is swollen, screaming in protest as I move it. Onyx explains that she, Bazz, and Slade showed up to make sure I was okay and the scene they found.

Shaking my head slightly, I ask, “How did you know?”

“Odin.”

My heart sinks. I do my best to keep him out of all this. I’m sure there’s been a few times he’s questioned why the bedroom door is locked while I do my makeup, but he’s never seen it. “I’ve been trying to keep him blind to all of it. I told him to stay with his friends last night.”

“He did, but I guess after he talked to you he felt like something was off so he called me. We left the races immediately and headed to the house.” Onyx shakes her head. Moisture fills her eyes but they don’t spill over, they never do. Onyx is strong like that. She’ll never cry in front of someone, but I’m sure she does when she’s alone. She comes off as strong and invincible with no emotions, but she probably has the strongest emotions out of everyone I know. She just doesn’t show them to many people. I reach forward and take my hand in hers, just like she used to do for me when we were kids, and a storm would start brewing outside. She squeezes it back lightly. “I didn’t tell him what happened, but I told him not to go back to the house. I’m going to pick him up in a few hours.”

My free hand throbs with pain. I look down to see it’s bandaged. The memory of the glass slicing it open makes me wonder how I ever managed to do that. “Is Lyle…” I can’t bring myself to ask. What if I killed him? What if the teenage boy with the knife to his throat killed him? Suddenly, my body turns against itself and acid eats its way up my throat. As if she can read my mind, Onyx grabs the trash can beside the desk and holds it for me while my body rejects everything in my system. When I’m done, Onyx disappears into a bathroom and comes back with a cool, damp rag and places it on my forehead.

“He’s fine. He just needed a few stitches where my badass sister stabbed him. He’s not dead.” I sigh in relief. It’s not that he’s a good person, because actually he’s a pretty horrible person, but I don’t think I could handle the knowledge of knowing I killed someone—even him. “You can’t go back to him, Odette.”

I meet Onyx’s eyes. “We don’t have anywhere else to go, Onyx.”

She shakes her head. “That’s not true. We can stay here.”

My eyes scan the room. “I don’t even know where here is.”

“It’s an old hotel that’s been renovated.”

I scoff and push her hand away as I climb out of bed. She can’t be serious right now. “Is it run by the SK?”

“The SK as you knew it doesn’t exist anymore. It's the Street Kings now.”

My head begins to pound again when I roll my eyes. “Yeah right. Do you honestly expect me to believe that?”

She stands up, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yes, because it’s true. The only illegal thing we do now is street race and that’s something I’m going to do with or without them. Racing is my blood, you know that.”

“How is this any different?” I ask throwing my arms out on either side of me, taking in the room.

Onyx sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “If you would just listen instead of jumping to conclusions from your high horse you might understand.”

“If my sister hadn’t been lying to me and stealing cars and got sent to jail, I wouldn’t have ended up back with Lyle in the first place so I’m sorry if I’m jumping at every little bit of information you give me now. I don’t know if I’m getting the whole truth or half-truths.” I huff out a bout of air and then realization hits me of what I just said. It’s not Onyx’s fault. It was my decision. Even after all this I still don’t regret it because it gave Odin and I a place to live for the months she was away. I sigh. “Onyx…” She holds up her hand to silence me and storms out of the room. The slamming of the door echoes in my ears long after she’s left the room.

For a long time I stand there staring at the door before exhaustion starts to creep on me again and I climb back into the bed. Too tired, too sore to work through our issues tonight. I decide to try again in the morning. However, a couple of hours later and I’m still tossing and turning in the bed. Anxious, restless, and completely unable to sleep. For a while I sit on the side of the bed but eventually, I get up. When I open the door, I peek out looking in both directions. I don’t see anyone and against my better judgement I step out into the hallway. At the end I find a staircase and head down it. It’s probably not the best idea to wander around the building that belongs to an illegal crime ring.

The place is quiet until I hit a step and it squeaks. I cringe and continue to move forward. The downstairs is large and spacious. Red, blue, and black wherever I look. It’s an interesting color scheme but oddly enough it’s appealing. As I walk farther into the space, I notice someone sitting at the dining room table. He turns to me and I’m caught off guard at first. Pale skin, dark hair, and a five o’clock shadow, strong bone structure especially his square jaw. Steel blue gray eyes and muscles for days. His eyes meet mine and a look of surprise crosses his face. “You’re up.” His voice is deep and settles somewhere within my gut, catching me off guard. Some part of me has an instant attraction to him which is insane considering my current state. You also can’t forget the fact that if he’s here then he’s one of the bad guys, he’s part of the messed-up world that took my sister away from me.

“Yeah.”

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